1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital image photography in diverse complex apparatuses having a function of photographing a digital image, including digital cameras and mobile terminals equipped with camera modules. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for photographing a panoramic picture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an image capture unit functions to obtain an image in a digital image photographing apparatus, and the image is formed within a focal length of a lens thereof. Here, the obtained image is within a range of the typical viewing angle (between about 30° to 50° for general cameras), which is smaller than the human visual angle (between about 150° to 200°). In a conventional method of photographing multiple images while properly changing the viewing angle, the photographed images are inter-connected in sequence to reorganize them into one consecutive image. Therefore a picture is obtained with a viewing angle similar to or larger than the human visual angle. Such a conventional method is called a panoramic picture photographing method.
More particularly, in a panoramic picture photographing mode, the conventional digital image photographing apparatus photographs several images to be inter-connected horizontally or vertically, and then stores them in a memory. The images stored in the memory are provided to an appropriate interior/exterior image processor later, and are inter-connected into one consecutive image. At this time, in order to eliminate color differences and image discords at the boundaries between the images, digital image photographing apparatuses photograph multiple images with sufficient overlap between their boundaries, and then align the images by adjusting their boundaries. Thereafter, they perform image processing, including stitching and bending. Through this process, a single image is obtained that includes naturally inter-connected multiple images.
Panoramic picture photography therefore places a high priority on the capture of such images aligned as accurately as possible. To this end, an accessory apparatus, such as a tripod, is normally used in such manual photography to increase the likelihood of more accurate alignment. For example, a recent method has been suggested in which a corresponding photographing apparatus is mounted on a tripod or the like, and the mounted photographing apparatus is rotated according to respective images in panorama photographing. An example of such a method is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2003-0052444 filed on Jul. 29, 2003, entitled “Camera And Method for Photographing Panorama Picture”, the applicant of which is Samsung Techwin Co. Ltd., and the inventor of which is BAE, Sung-cheol. Further to the above-described methods, an apparatus having a function of detecting a rotation angle may be additionally mounted on the corresponding photographing apparatus, and a user sets the rotation angle of the photographing apparatus in advance so that the respective images are photographed by rotational displacement over the rotation angle of the photographing apparatus pre-set by the user in panorama photographing, of which method has been also suggested.
Furthermore, in order to align the respective images more accurately in case of photographing of panoramic pictures (without mounting an accessory element or additional hardware on the corresponding photographing apparatus), the method has been provided in which the partial region of the border of previously photographed image is represented appropriately overlapping with the current image for photographing when photographing respective images, so that the user can control an appropriate position for photographing by adjusting the pre-photographed image with the current photographing image. An example of such the method is disclosed in US Publication No. 2004/0189849 filed on Mar. 31, 2003, entitled “Panoramic Sequence Guide” in the name of an inventor, Gregory V. Hofer.
Photographing panoramic pictures requires more user-sophistication and proficiency vis-a-vis photographing a general single image, and this has necessitated better and more convenient solutions for manipulating and photographing images.